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My landlord is turning some old office space into apartments, gutting everything. All day is jack hammering, building shakes, loud noises, cranes hoisting up sheetrock and other supplies, testing fire alarms almost weekly (my cats do NOT appreciate that) and the MOST annoying thing to me, as I am DISABLED and don't leave the apartment much is shutting off all water, usually from 10AM to 3PM. Do you know what it's like to NOT be able to flush your toilet?? Sometimes, they do provide notice, 24 hours if I'm lucky. But recently, on Monday, they delivered me a notice at 9:30AM that the water will be off at 10AM. I only knew the time because I was bringing my trash out at 9:20 and there was no notice in my door. I called the Office to complain, and the Property Manager woman said "Oh, the guy didn't have enough time to deliver notices I guess". She is typically quick to answer, and never tenant friendly... a true B****, but regardless, just my opinion. This renovation has been going on for months now, and they shut the water (which IS included in rent) at least once or twice a week. It's really hard to know exactly when they put notices on doors, especially if you don't leave/open your door for days on end. When the water comes back on, you need to bleed the system, as the "water" comes out pure white for about 2-3 minutes. I don't know how safe that can be!! When heat and hot water are included, as they are here, it's really just an adjustment of rent. I pay $1065 for a 1br, with h/hw incl. If it wasn't included, rent would be maybe $100 less. Regardless, in one way or another, the heat and hot water are getting paid for by me. The Manager laughed when I asked if I could take a discount off my rent since they delivered the notice 30 minutes before they shut off water. Laughed! WHAT, if anything, can I do about this??? Their renovations are not my problem. I pay rent to have a quiet and comfortable dwelling. What if I was in the shower with soap all over when it was turned off? In searching the internet, it doesn't seem like I can do anything at all except complain, which has done me no good. Is this reportable somewhere, to somebody that gives a hoot? I felt like such a nothing that I wanted to try and get back without doing anything illegal... so when the water came back on, I ran the HOT water in the kitchen sink, the bathroom sink and in the tub for about 9-10 hours. Then I felt I was reimbursed, or that they were out the extra money for my inconvenience. I know it was stupid, but my disability got the best of me. I've been here 8 months, and at least 4 months have been this havoc. I would love to move, but I can't afford to. As it is, rent is more than half of my disability money. I need to live close to family, and not in the only other cheaper option which had 3 instances of bed bugs in the 12 months I was there (not my fault!). That place was ghetto, full of drugs and violence - but rent was cheap! I searched for 3 months prior to getting in here, but at least in these past 8 months, no bed bugs. So do I just have to keep extra gallons of water on hand for the landlord's inconveniences? Suck it up, or is there any recourse? HELP!!!! Stepny Place Apartments, Rocky Hill, CT 06067 / Konover Residential Properties
You say you don't leave the house, have you considered that he's leaving the notices on the door without knocking? Seems strange that they would be so inconsistent about the timing of the notice.
$1065 is insane for a 1 BR, do you get anything besides the hot water along with that? A 1br should be less than $1k.
It sounds like you need a housing advocate. You can start by contacting the town. I am not sure but Rocky Hill has a Housing Authority and they may be able to point you in the right direction. Call them at 860-563-7868. You could also contact the town's Health Department at 860-721-2822 about the situation and see what they say. Good luck, Jay
You say you don't leave the house, have you considered that he's leaving the notices on the door without knocking? Seems strange that they would be so inconsistent about the timing of the notice.
$1065 is insane for a 1 BR, do you get anything besides the hot water along with that? A 1br should be less than $1k.
I'd leave, personally.
They get heat with their rent. I am not sure that is unreasonable. Jay
My landlord is turning some old office space into apartments, gutting everything. All day is jack hammering, building shakes, loud noises, cranes hoisting up sheetrock and other supplies, testing fire alarms almost weekly (my cats do NOT appreciate that) and the MOST annoying thing to me, as I am DISABLED and don't leave the apartment much is shutting off all water, usually from 10AM to 3PM.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JayCT
It sounds like you need a housing advocate. You can start by contacting the town. I am not sure but Rocky Hill has a Housing Authority and they may be able to point you in the right direction. Call them at 860-563-7868. You could also contact the town's Health Department at 860-721-2822 about the situation and see what they say. Good luck, Jay
IMO you will get faster action by contacting the health dept.
I don't know the answer to your original question regarding 24 hour notice for water shut off. I will bet however that the landlord needs to make sure you have drinkable water during the shut off time. Especially if you are disabled and home bound. The health dept isn't going to like that situation.
You should also contact the Rocky Hill housing authority and inquire about low rent housing. The town has some units for elderly and/or disabled persons. I do not know the income limits, the rents, or the wait time, however. It is worth checking into since you're on a tight budget. The units are within walking distance of Main St. You can pick up CT transit bus #55 here from these units.
Lastly, if you can (or perhaps you can ask a neighbor) check for building permits. Permits have to be displayed at the entrance to the site. If by some miracle they don't have a permit call the building Dept. and that site will be shut down. The landlord will also be fined.
You say you don't leave the house, have you considered that he's leaving the notices on the door without knocking? Seems strange that they would be so inconsistent about the timing of the notice.
$1065 is insane for a 1 BR, do you get anything besides the hot water along with that? A 1br should be less than $1k.
I'd leave, personally.
Yes, the $1065 includes heat (regulated up to 75 degrees) and hot water (scalding hot). The part I forgot to mention, when my lease ends 9/30, the rent increases to $1175!!! $110 jump!!! I'm sure that's to pay for all the renovations that they're inconveniencing me over.
When they put notices in the door jam, they have never knocked. It's a "quiet" notice. I would never know to open my door and look for a notice, although I do often now because of their shenanigans.
IMO you will get faster action by contacting the health dept.
I don't know the answer to your original question regarding 24 hour notice for water shut off. I will bet however that the landlord needs to make sure you have drinkable water during the shut off time. Especially if you are disabled and home bound. The health dept isn't going to like that situation.
You should also contact the Rocky Hill housing authority and inquire about low rent housing. The town has some units for elderly and/or disabled persons. I do not know the income limits, the rents, or the wait time, however. It is worth checking into since you're on a tight budget. The units are within walking distance of Main St. You can pick up CT transit bus #55 here from these units.
Lastly, if you can (or perhaps you can ask a neighbor) check for building permits. Permits have to be displayed at the entrance to the site. If by some miracle they don't have a permit call the building Dept. and that site will be shut down. The landlord will also be fined.
Thank you both for the help!! I'll be contacting the Housing Authority and/or the Health Dept today re: the 24 hour notice, etc.. I wouldn't be surprised if the woman in the office lies, and said she never talked to me, or a "he said, she said" situation. It would be on my cell phone records that I called, the day and time, and length of call.
If they do in fact provide drinkable water during those many days of water shut off's, they have never advised the tenants of it. They just say "Sorry for the inconvenience".
Would the permit need to be in plain view for passer-by's? or could it be in the Office, where I need to go in and ask for it? This is a huge complex, with a national Management company, so I bet they have their i's dotted.
This lease was hopefully for me to find a small house/condo, which is doable in my price range $80k-100k. I have seen a bunch of properties, but nothing popped out at me.. and I don't want to jump for the wrong reasons. Even if it's a foreclosure, I have a big family with deep pockets, and tradesmen who can perform all the contractor work for homes that need TLC... but not major issues.
Deep breath... Thank you all for the incredible advice! I did mention on another reply that rent is going from $1065 to $1175 at lease renewal... to help pay for the renovations. That's an incredibly steep jump. I'll bring that up in the Housing Authority discussion. AND the only reason I know that, is that I found it on apartments.com and other sites. I wonder how long they have to notify me of the rental rape increase?!
I hope this works out for you. As for your rent increase, this seems to be common practice among apartment complexes. They get you in with one rent and then after a year or two hit you with a big increase. I have a friend that lived in a complex right near you and the first year her rent was reasonable. The second year they upped in by $110 just like you. She stayed but when they tried to up it by a similar amount the following year, she moved. What got me was that she paid a similar amount to what you pay but then they added different fees to her rent. Like they charged her for garbage removal and then did a surcharge when the heat usage went above a certain point. I thought that was unfair and told her to walk the first year but she did not want to move after only one year. Anyway, she is much happier now in an apartment in a three family home down in Cromwell. The landlord is nice and doesn't increase the rent a lot each year. Hopefully this will work out for you. Jay
I think you need to have a 60 day notice for rent increases, but I'm not sure. This may be of interest to you, Rocky Hill now has a "fair rent commission" so be sure to ask about that. Your increase is slightly more than 10% so I would question that.
If you are 62 yrs old or older you also can only be charged one month security deposit (excludes pet deposits) keep that in mind too.
On occasion apts in multi family houses come up for rent on Main St in Cromwell. These are the types houses that usually have 1st 2nd 3rd floors and each floor is one unit. Public CT Transit bus also runs down Main St if that's important.
You can check rarereminder.com for rentals in Rocky Hill, Cromwell, Wethersfield, Newington. I've found places in there before. The rentals tend to be for small houses, duplexes, or apts in multi family houses.
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